Chiang Mai—
At 11:40 PM, on March 15th, 2024, San Kamphaeng police officers received a fatal shooting report on the Pa Phai-Super Road, San Kamphaeng, Chiang Mai, causing one casualty and one injury.
San Kamphaeng police and emergency services were dispatched to the incident scene and found a grey pickup truck plunged into a canal on the roadside. Inside the pickup truck, two victims were identified only as Mr. Aek, 28, who was fatally shot at his right eye and right shoulder a total of three times, and Mr. Nophasin, 41, who was shot at his left shoulder one time, according to the police report.
Unfortunately, Aek, the victim, was announced deceased by physicians after being transferred to Lanna Hospital, and Nophasin was currently receiving medical treatment, according to the police report.
The forensic officers gathered evidence at the crime scene and found six bullet shells. Upon the police investigation, the police were able to track down the suspect from local CCTV. The suspect was publicly identified as Mr. Rungroj Promsiri, a 42-year-old former firearms shooting competitor driving a white pickup truck on the incident day.
On March 16th, 2024, the police were able to capture Rungroj, the suspect, at a rental room in Saraphi, Chiang Mai, and confiscated two firearms according to the Chiang Mai Provincial Court arrest warrant.
According to the police report, the suspect reportedly confessed to the police officers that on the incident day, he was intoxicated and drove around the town. While he was at an intersection, at a traffic box, there was a human-drawn figure, he then shot at the figure as he believed it was a person looking at him, said Rungroj.
After that, the suspect reportedly stated that the victims looked at him wrong making him infuriated, and he then tailed the victims and shot them causing the truck to plunge into the canal. The suspect then went down and shot at them with more than 10 rounds of bullets and drove back to his room, according to Rungroj.
Initially, the San Kamphaeng police pressed charges against Rungroj on intentional murder offenses. It was reported that Rungroj held firearm-related offenses in 2023 as locals reported that he often shot at the sky.
